Beyond the Classroom

Student life at St.Christopher’s is far more than academics and the typical after-school activities. Our nonacademic programs emphasize the life-affirming principles of honor, spirituality, leadership, and community service.

St. Christopher’s recognizes the changing needs of boys at every age by maintaining three separate libraries, each equipped with a variety of resources to complement the curriculum and staffed by skilled librarians who work closely with students and teachers. The school’s libraries house a combined collection of over 41,000 print and non-print materials and provide online access to the library catalogs and subscription reference tools, including encyclopedias and periodical databases. Librarians at all levels at St. Christopher’s collaborate with one another and with their sister school, St. Catherine’s, to provide a cohesive library program.

Lower School Library

Get moving and read! Lower School boys come to the library to hear stories, to check out books for pleasure and purpose, and to get some exercise on one of our reading gliders. The library is a busy gathering place throughout the school day as students attend Learning Commons sessions which integrate information and technology literacy skills, and conduct research using both print and digital resources. You often will find BUILD projects on display throughout this creative space.

Two librarians introduce young boys to a wide range of literature as a means of enjoyment and as exposure to a broader global community. As part of the Learning Commons team, the librarians also work with teachers to enhance the school curriculum with a variety of materials and activities.

Special events such as author, illustrator, and storyteller visits, as well as the highly anticipated Book Fairs, Battle of the Books, and Dads Read competitions help build excitement about reading.

Middle School Library

An active space located in the center of our Middle School campus, the Middle School Library is a hub for collaborative learning. Throughout the day, whole classes meet in our library for “booktalks,” research instruction and project completion. During study hall periods, students sign-up to use the library for group projects. Traditional “silent study halls” are proctored by teachers in classrooms.

Pleasure reading is promoted with group programing and an extensive collection of high-interest literature. Our boys enjoy access to books in both print and eBook formats. Author visits, whole-class “booktalks,” and “avid reader events” provide a balance of exposure and enrichment for our 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students.

Ultimately, we seek to help our boys develop an active knowledge and understanding of the world around them.

The Upper School’s Memorial Library inspires creative thinking, intellectual curiosity, collaboration, diversity of thought, and expression through a diverse print, digital, and multimedia collection, a student-centered library facility and programming, and an integrated information literacy curriculum that seeks to inspire and extend learning in and out of the library.

We believe that the most effective and meaningful way to inspire the ethical and effective use of information is to collaborate with teachers in cultivating information literacy instruction at the point of student learning.

The Upper School Librarians target instruction and research support so that information literacy instruction happens along with subject area learning. We believe that integrating information finding, critical thinking and analysis, and knowledge synthesis throughout the Upper School curriculum empowers students to gain research and analysis skills that will prepare them for 21st century academic excellence and life.

We value each boy and provide individual research support and instruction through personal reference appointments.

Library Database Access

To access databases, library catalogs and online resources, please log in to SaintsNet and go to the Resource Page. Next, click on Libraries.